Lasers are known to be energy efficient and small light sources that have a small/low etendue (i.e. the product of emitting area with solid angle in which the light is emitted). This implies that these laser light sources emit light from a relatively small area into a limited angular range.
Such lasers may therefore be beneficial for applications where a bright light source is needed. Typical example applications include projection systems, automotive lighting, camera flashlights, and spot lights. For these examples, it may be desirable to provide a light beam that is inhomogeneous (i.e. having a luminance that varies with position in the light beam). This is typically achieved by superimposing several images of the light source (or several light beams). Images or light beams with different magnification or luminance are overlaid so as to produce an overall output light beam having a required shape and/or luminance variation. However, such known approaches typically fail to provide an output light beam having a suitable shape and/or luminance variation.